The present invention relates to protective body armor of the soft and hard types designed to resist penetration by bullets, buckshot, pellets, shrapnel or other projectiles.
The main objective here is to provide a fabric capable of significant reduction in the so called "blunt trauma" effect leading to injury of the armor's wearer. While the armor stops penetration of the projectile, it allows its kinetic energy to be transferred through the armor system directly to the body of the wearer as to cause injuries to the bone structure and internal organs.
This injury is described in the protective apparel industry as "blunt trauma", which is correlated to the extent of inward deformation suffered by the armor as it is impacted by a projectile.
The armor itself is made from a plurality of layers of ballistic resistant material. The maximum extent of deformation accepted under industry standards is 1.73 inches as measured in the clay material used to simulate human flesh impacted by ballistic effect on the armor.
Various devices or materials have been designed to be worn under the body armor to absorb the impact of a projectile striking it and thus reduce the inward deformation and hence the blunt trauma, which would minimize or possibly eliminate any injury to the wearer. Such devices involve the use of foam, non-wovens, plastic honeycombs and other materials. Their main drawback is the lack of air permeability, which causes the wearer to perspire excessively and leads to avoidance of the body armor protection despite the hazards involved. In many cases, law enforcement officers refuse to wear their armor because of the acute discomfort induced by its impermeable components.